The Doctor is in

Tuberville believes he can resurrect football program

Posted: Wednesday, August 11, 1999

By Marc LancasterStaff Writer

Call Tommy Tuberville a hopeless optimist, but all he can see as he takes the reins of the train wreck that is Auburn football is a great opportunity. Or, at least a better one than he had at Ole Miss when he took over that probation-strapped program in 1995.

''At Ole Miss there were a lot of problems that we had no control over -- half your scholarships, no TV, no bowl games -- we couldn't control that,'' Tuberville said. ''At Auburn, we've got control. We've got all of our scholarships, we've got no excuses when it comes to numbers. The problems we have are basically internal. We just need to solve those and get going.''

But that, as they say, is far easier said than done -- especially in this case.

Auburn's 1998 season will go down in the college football annals as one of the most gut-wrenching and bizarre ever recorded, especially for such a proud program. The messy departure of Terry Bowden after the season's sixth game and the ensuing foot-in-mouth clinic put on by interim coach Bill Oliver exacerbated an already deteriorating situation.

Without any apparent thought to the irony of his statement, Tuberville has emphasized that ''they didn't hire me to come sit around and watch soap operas.''

No, extricating the Tigers from the one they've been living for the past year will be good enough.

But if anyone can pull off the resurrection, it is Tuberville. The mild-mannered Arkansas native earned a reputation as one of the up-and-comers in college coaching with his work at Ole Miss -- his first head coaching job. Despite the substantial limitations already in place in Oxford, Tuberville compiled a 25-20 record in four seasons. The Rebels earned bowl bids the last two seasons, their first back-to-back postseason trips since 1971.

Auburn fans would love to think about bowl games again, but after the 3-8 disaster of 1998, just getting the program back on solid ground will be enough.

To Tuberville, the first step in that process has already been achieved, with the start of practice. The second step will come Sept. 4, when the Tigers open their season against Appalachian State. Then, Tuberville hopes, all the talk about demons past will cease.

''The problem you have in the off-season, no matter where you're at, is that if you have a problem, that problem's talked about and discussed and sometimes it gets expounded on more than it normally would,'' he said. ''But I'm glad the season's here because now that we've got a schedule to play, we can play a game. If we win it, you can forget about the bad things that happened. Or, even if we lose, at least you're talking about some other things.''

He may be right ... once people get finished griping about how the Tigers should have been playing Florida State on national television in that opener instead of the Division I-AA Mountaineers. Auburn bought its way out of that game, and Tuberville isn't going to worry about it anymore because he has enough problems on his hands.

First, he's running out of players, especially on offense. Keep in mind that the lack of skill at the skill positions was the main problem for Bowden and Oliver last fall.

Quarterbacks Ben Leard and Gabe Gross, neither of whom distinguished themselves last year, are back. One of them will get the nod, and Tuberville hopes will be able to keep the job throughout the season -- ''We will not have a quarterback controversy, we will not alternate quarterbacks,'' Tuberville insists. Gross is the incumbent, but his arm is sore after playing baseball for the Tigers in the spring and he may not be able to hold up.

Despite the quarterback problems, at least Auburn has bodies at the position. The same can't be said at running back.

Last year's top two rushers, Michael Burks and Demontray Carter, are gone. Burks transferred and Carter is academically ineligible. Only multi-purpose players Rusty Williams and Markeith Cooper (both primarily used as receivers last year) and little-used reserve Cencade Pennington are back, which leaves a total of 91 yards worth of rushing stats returning from last year's team, not counting the quarterbacks.

In addition, freshman recruits Brandon Johnson and Casinious Moore were injured during the summer and probably won't be available.

This is not a good sign for the only team in the SEC that averaged less than 100 yards per game on the ground last season.

The only good news is that the Tigers will probably be solid on defense once again. Despite all of their difficulties, the Tigers were fourth in the league in total defense a year ago and second in passing defense. Even in Bowden's final game, a 24-3 loss at Florida, the defense held the Gators to only 301 yards -- third-lowest in Steve Spurrier's nine seasons in Gainesville.

With a deep line that includes All-SEC candidates Leonardo Carson, Jimmy Brumbaugh and Marcus Washington, the Tigers should be able to keep their heads above water, at the very least.

It may take a year or two, but all that matters to the Tigers as they enter 1999 is that they can finally be more worried about what goes on at the practice field than what's going on behind the scenes.

''It's been all negative things for us,'' offensive lineman Jeno James said. ''Now it's time to concentrate on football. Last year we concentrated more on what coach is going to be here, what coach is leaving. Now we can concentrate strictly on football, our plays and what's going to happen for us this season.''